Jose Mourinho, the former Tottenham manager, has taken a swipe at his previous club , confessing that he "sometimes forgets" about his tenure there.
The 61-year-old was at the helm in North London for 18 months before being shown the door on the eve of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City in April 2021. During his stint with Spurs, Mourinho led the team to victory in 44 out of 86 matches and secured Europa League soccer after succeeding Mauricio Pochettino. However, he was let go just as Spurs were gearing up to face City at Wembley - a match that could have ended their 13-year wait for a major trophy.
His departure from Spurs left a bitter taste, and Mourinho has even confessed to forgetting about his time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Now managing Fenerbahce, Mourinho was questioned about having to qualify for the Champions League through the qualifying round - an experience he initially claimed to be unfamiliar with.
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But then, Mourinho recalled that he had indeed navigated three qualifying matches with Tottenham to secure their place in the Europa League group stage. Ahead of Fenerbahce's journey to Lille, Mourinho remarked: ''This is not the first time for me, it is the second time. I sometimes forget about Tottenham, that I played with them in the qualifiers.
"This is the second time this has happened to me, but it's the first time I'm starting the season in a summer month when there is a European Championship and a World Cup. This makes our job twice as difficult.
"It is difficult because you are playing official matches and the players from the European Championship return to the team in different periods. We have now carried out 40 training sessions, maybe we were able to work as a full squad in a maximum of ten. They joined the team step by step, which made our job difficult. But this is the situation we are in.
"I don't like making excuses, I always prefer to concentrate on the next match. Tomorrow, our team and the players will be better off except for Fred's absence. We are motivated for this match. 'Sometimes they ask, what is your motivation for the season, being in the Champions League or winning the league? ' saying. I always say the same thing: 'My motivation is always the next match.''
Fenerbahce will face either Slavia Prague or Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in the Champions League play-off round if they beat Lille after the draw took place today. Play-off round ties will take place on August 20-21 and August 27-28.
Liverpool.com says: Mourinho is just the ultimate wind-up merchant. It was realistic at one stage that he could have been the Liverpool manager before Rafa Benitez took charge. That would have been... interesting.
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